Submitted photo. Josh Quint will display an assortment of the photos he took while deployed in Afghanistan in an exhibit at the Farmington Valley Arts Center.

Avon >> Josh Quint enlisted in the Connecticut Army National Guard when he was only 17 years old, a junior at Torrington High School, with the thought that it would help pay for his college education down the line.

His unit, the 143rd Military Police, left for Afghanistan in October 2012 when he was 21 years old. That trip, perhaps the most formative experience of his young life, resulted in another more unexpected outcome. The war made Quint a photographer, an interest of his for several years but never one he seriously pursued till his unit set down in the Ghazni Province of Afghanistan.

An assortment of the vibrant photographs he snapped while he was there will be featured in an exhibit titled, “Freedom Comes Home” in the Esther B. Drezner Visitor’s Gallery at the Farmington Valley Arts Center on Sept. 27 along with a juried show of all mediums called, “Freedom.” An opening celebration will take place on Sept. 27 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Center, located at 25 Arts Center Lane. Avon Town Manager, Brandon Robertson, will be present and entertainment will be provided by Connecticut Idol Winner, Bill Benson. Quint’s show will run through the end of October.

When Quint was still in high school, he would take photos with his cell phone camera, he recalled. His fiancé’s cousin was the first to encourage him and gave him a camera for Christmas, a Canon DSLR camera, the same one that he would later take to war.

“Little did I realize how one gift would change my life forever,” Quint wrote in his artist statement.

After his unit was announced for deployment in August 2012, Quint headed to Texas for months of training before flying out on Halloween. He took his camera along to training and was named the, “unofficial photographer,” of his unit.

“After that everybody in my unit was like you’re very good at what you do. Keep doing it,” said Quint in a recent interview.

Upon touching down in Afghanistan, he set out to document his experience for his family back home. His mission’s job was to provide police mentorship to the Afghan police and military so they could be self-sufficient when they left, Quint explained. Over the seven months he was there, Quint took about 5,000 photographs.

“Not all of them were mind blowing,” said Quint. “I wanted to show that this is what Afghanistan looks like. This is the cot I slept on. It’s hard to explain to your family this is how I lived for the last year. I also wanted to show what the war is really like 12 years later, from what media portrayed at the beginning. The war has completely changed.”

Quint’s photos are bright and dynamic, focusing both on the war he was a part of and the people who lived through it.

Jennifer DeGraaf, a board member at Farmington Valley Art Center, took an interest in his photos. She promised to frame some of his work, as the owner of Jennifer Galleries, upon his return from Afghanistan. She pitched Quint’s work to Michele Colletti, director of the Farmington Valley Art Center, for an exhibition focused on the life of a soldier.

“I love the way he depicted his time in Afghanistan,” said Colletti. “ I was moved at the very personal photos he captured, which depicts the country in such as different light. There is a lot of beauty in his work.”

Quint never imagined that he would have a gallery show of his photography, but when he was asked if he was interested, he didn’t think twice.

“I was blown away,” said Quint. “It was crazy. I would never think I would have something like this.”

Colletti said the FVAC booked Quint’s show and then decided to run it concurrently with a juried show which was open to artists of all mediums. Colletti explained that artists were asked to consider, “What does freedom mean to you?” when creating or entering work.

For “Freedom Comes Home,” the Center selected 40 of Quint’s photographs - 20 will be framed and the other 20 will simply be matted. Quint checked in with a public affairs representative at the state to see which photos he was allowed to show publicly and not. Of the photos he submitted to the FVAC, the staff there chose photos that focused on the culture of Afghanistan and the military.

“They wanted to show the cultural aspect of the war,” said Quint. “There are pictures of children and adults at work in the bazaar.”

Since returning from Afghanistan, Quint has been attending Central Connecticut State University, pursuing a degree in criminology. His goal is to become a State Police officer and pursue photography as well. In the last few months, Quint has started a small photography business with a partner and has been taking wedding and engagement photos. Ultimately he’d like to go into photojournalism or have a photography business on the side while working full time as a cop.

“Each picture I took tells a story of a new beginning in Afghanistan,” Quint wrote in his artist statement. “As I put my journey there in my past, and start my life over again as a student, photographer, and fiancé, I have new beginnings of my own. I hope through these images, I am able to show a new perspective of the war as seen through my eyes, which has forever impacted my life.”

For more information on Quint’s show, visit the FVAC website at www.artsfvac.org.

About the Author

Kate Hartman works as a writer for Connecticut Magazine and formerly covered the towns of Harwinton, Burlington, New Hartford, Barkhamsted and Canton for The Register Citizen. Reach the author at khartman@registercitizen.com
or follow Kate on Twitter: @CTMagKate.